Walden warns residents to shovel their sidewalks

By Ted Remsnyder
Posted 2/13/19

With winter still in full swing and more snowstorms surely headed to the region in the coming weeks, the Village of Walden is urging residents to shovel their properties promptly after each storm as …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Walden warns residents to shovel their sidewalks

Posted

With winter still in full swing and more snowstorms surely headed to the region in the coming weeks, the Village of Walden is urging residents to shovel their properties promptly after each storm as a matter of public safety. A total of 36 homes in the municipality have been cited this winter for failing to shovel their sidewalks within 24 hours, an infraction that comes with a $220 fine.

Three dozen properties have been fined this season for failing to comply with the village code, which stipulates that the entire width of the the sidewalk, or four feet (whichever is wider), must be cleared off by the homeowner within a day of each storm. A number of the properties that were fined were repeat offenders, as no one is residing in the homes. “Some of them were abandoned houses, so there’s nothing we can do about those, except go and do it,” Village Manager John Revella said. “We do know which ones those are and we try to cite those first because we know that no one’s going to shovel those. So we have the crew that does the shoveling ready to do those right after the storm. If they have time, they keep going to the next list and the next list as they get updated. But it takes time and we have just so many man hours to do things. So we try to get things done as much as we can without it costing us too much money in overtime. But we do have two crews out doing it and they usually get everything done in a day.”

During the Village Board meeting on Feb. 5, Trustee Larry Kraus said that Walden has to find a solution to mounds of snow piling up on village sidewalks after each storm. “I’ve been in the village for about 27 years and every time it snows, in all of these intersections I have to climb over a mountain,” Kraus noted during the meeting. “I know we have 24-hour cleanup, but we have to do something about it, especially around the school area.”

Trustee John Ramos suggested putting together a volunteer squad of residents who would be willing to quickly shovel snow in key areas of the village when needed. “We should look at employing some sort of volunteer team, especially the areas near the schools,” Ramos said to the board. “Obviously we do have some medical facilities in and around the area. Twenty-four hours is a long time to allow the homeowners to clean up their areas. Some of them are very diligent and some of them are waiting for the 23rd hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. So I think we should explore maybe having a volunteer team clear those areas where schoolchildren are walking to school.”

At the board’s previous meeting on Jan. 15, the council passed Local Law No. 1 of 2019 to change the public notice procedure for applicants who are appearing before the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. The law changed the mailing process so that applicants will no longer have to send out notices to their neighbors themselves, as the village will now manage the entire administrative undertaking. “The Building Department and our office will handle everything jointly,” Revella said.

When the legislation was passed, the board still had to set a fee for the service, and at last Tuesday’s meeting a $2.25 per mailing fee was adopted. The cost could change in the future depending on rising postal rates. “That’s for everything - getting the list, putting the stamps on, the letter, the envelope,” Revella said of the fee.

Previously it would have cost the applicant $8 per mailing to handle the task themselves, so residents will save money under the new streamlined process. “They no longer have to go and solicit the list, they no longer have to write and sign the letters,” Revella explained. “Also, they no longer have to write the envelopes and stuff them and stamp them. They don’t have to get the certified mail now and get the receipts back and bring them to the Zoning Board or Planning Board.”